Green pool after lots of rain / where to start?

[john3parker]

Hi,
I'm new to TFP! After spending way too much money at the pool store and getting green results I've decided to try pool maintenance myself. So far my wife is unimpressed with my efforts and so am I. Pool was partly cloudy through April and when the endless May rains started it seemed to get more cloudy. Now with a few days of sunshine I have an algae bloom. I put a gallon of chlorine in the pool and it was gone in a day -- still green. I have a new T-100 test kit and here are my results.

TC = 1
Ph = 8.2
TA = 60
CH = 100
CYA = 0

I used the Pool Calculator and it's telling me to ..

add 29 oz or muratic acid
83 oz of baking soda
416 oz by volume of calcium chloride
245 oz of stabilizer

Seems like a lot of chemicals. I'm not even sure what calcium chloride and stabilier are. I'm not really sure what to add first. Any help would be much appreciated!

Thank you in advance!
John

 

[jaduck]

Welcome to TFP! You have already won half your battle by purchasing the TF100 and posting here at TFP. Please read and reread Pool School and pay particular attention to the SLAM method, because that is where you will start. For the time being I would not worry or continue testing TA or CH. You can deal with those later. It is also necessary to report a result for FC and CC.

In short I would:

1. Get your pH down to around 7.2
2. Add stabilizer to a level of 30 or 40.
3. Add chlorine to maintain a FC level of 16.
4. Keep FC level at 16 by testing your FC as often as possible and adjusting back to that level.
5. Then keep doing this until you have a crystal clear pool and have passed the oclt.
6. The experts here will be along shortly to refine my coments.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! I think you may have the wrong values entered in http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html. For your pool I set it up as fiberglass using TFPC with bleach. Your target for FC is 1-3. To raise FC to 3 you will need to add one 64 ounce jug of plain 8% bleach.

It is very important to get the pH in range. 8.2 is the highest reading on the scale, so your pH may actually be higher than that. You need 3 quarts of 31.45% Baume Muriatic Acid. Add 1 quart at a time and retest. If it still tests high after the 3rd quart then you will know the pH was off the scale high and keep adding MA until it is in the desired range.

Since your pool is fiberglass, you will need calcium to protect the gel-coat finish. PoolMath recommends calcium chloride, which is another term for hardness increaser. Most pool supply stores will have hardness increaser in 25 lb buckets. Your pool needs about 24lbs according to PoolMath.

Stabilizer (also known as CYA or conditioner) is like sunscreen for your chlorine. It prevents chlorine from burning off too quickly during daylight hours. We recommend manually chlorinated pools start with 30ppm of stabilizer and see how the pool responds at that level. It is easy to add more stabilizer, but if you add too much the only way to get rid of it is to partially drain and refill the pool. Think of stabilizer like a nice warm jacket. It provides a layer of protection when you need it. Now imagine someone keeps putting jackets on you and duct tapes each one so you can't remove them by yourself. Yes you are protected but you can't do anything effectively. All you can do is sit there until someone comes along and removes the jackets. So it is with too much stabilizer. Your FC won't be effective until someone comes along and removes the excess stabilizer from the pool. I show that you need 5lbs 8 ounces of stabilizer to reach 30 ppm.

First lower the pH, then add chlorine and stabilizer. You can add the stabilizer by placing about 1/2 of it in a clean white sock and dropping it in the skimmer basket. Just make sure it does not block the suction from the skimmer when you put it in. Give the sock a few good squeezes daily until it is all dissolved, then add the other half the same way.

You will need to complete the SLAM process to clear your pool. Please read the info about the slam process and ask any questions you may have.

 

[Richard320]

Hi,
I'm new to TFP! After spending way too much money at the pool store and getting green results I've decided to try pool maintenance myself. So far my wife is unimpressed with my efforts and so am I. Pool was partly cloudy through April and when the endless May rains started it seemed to get more cloudy. Now with a few days of sunshine I have an algae bloom. I put a gallon of chlorine in the pool and it was gone in a day -- still green. I have a new T-100 test kit and here are my results.

TC = 1
Ph = 8.2
TA = 60
CH = 100
CYA = 0

I used the Pool Calculator and it's telling me to ..

add 29 oz or muratic acid
83 oz of baking soda
416 oz by volume of calcium chloride
245 oz of stabilizer

Seems like a lot of chemicals. I'm not even sure what calcium chloride and stabilier are. I'm not really sure what to add first. Any help would be much appreciated!

Thank you in advance!
John

Question: Did the CYA sample get at all cloudy when you mixed the reagents? If you've been taking pool store advice, I find it hard to believe the CYA and CH numbers are so low. How have you been chlorinating?

With the caveat that I still have doubts about the CYA level and that needs to be rechecked and get confirmation from you about what chemicals you recall adding so you don't accidentally overshoot the CYA, jaduck gave the same answer I would give.

The expanded explanation to his steps 3,4,5 is what we call Shock Level And Maintain.

Once your pool is clear, then worry about finetuning the CH and possibly raising CYA.

Everything you need to buy can be purchased at big box and hardware stores. You can avoid the pool store markup.

 

[john3parker]

Thank you for the tips! I'll get started and let you know how it goes. I just got back from vacation and thankfully my pool didn't pool a darker shade of green. Here are new test results before adding anything.
FC = 1
CC = .5
TC = 1.5
CH = 100
TA = 70
CYA = 0 (it's not even a little bit cloudy -- completely clear when mixed with R-0013)
Ph = 7.8

Thanks,
John

 

[LI poolguy]

If your CYA really is zero, throw some pucks in a floater. This will increase the CYA, and pucks are acidic, it will help bring down the Ph some.